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Topic: Sourdough Strength (Read 2920 times)

I have been using commercial yeast and am thinking of trying sourdough. Can I expect the same leavening power with a sourdough starter? What about starting with sourdough for flavor, then adding some commercial yeast for the final rise?

No, sourdough has nowhere near the rising power of a commercial yeast *in the same timeframe* BUT it does have a surprising amount of power over many hours !

I have been doing a lot of sourdough lately, and really like it. I did a number of breads using sourdoughand adding a bit of yeast to give it that extra kick.

For example 6 cups of flour in my sourdough bread, with only 1 teaspoon of yeast made bread that reallyblew up very high in my loaf pans.

If you are going to do sourdough only, then it's totally fine for pizza, but just remember that you are goingto want to let it sit for about 3-4 hours to get a some real activity to it like you would see in only 45 minsusing commercial yeast.

Your mileage is going to vary, so don't hold me to exact times. Some let their bread rise for 6-7 hours !if using 100% sourdough only ( with no commercial yeast )

Sourdough is very fun, and gives a nice "kick" or "twang" to your breads.

I LOVE sourdough croutons. Just make up a few big round loaves of sourdough bread, then cut one of themup a day later, into croutons.... onto a baking sheet with your fav spices and lots of olive oil sprinkled onto them.Into the oven at 325 for over an hour, and wow.... they are just amazing in salads. Sourdough bread is reallyfun. Don't give up on it, it takes some time to know how to do it, but eventually if you keep plugging away you knowhow to do it.

I have been using commercial yeast and am thinking of trying sourdough. Can I expect the same leavening power with a sourdough starter? What about starting with sourdough for flavor, then adding some commercial yeast for the final rise?

cb

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Pizzamaker, Rib Smoker, HomeBrewer, there's not enough time for a real job.

I was so used to IDY that when Jeff gave me his culture I kept a little in there for the kick. Listen and read, the dough for pizza does not need all that rise. Just retard for 2 days in fridge and then set out for 4 hours before the baking. I just made 3 pizzas tonight and they were some of my best!

Keep in mind that sourdough cultures were the only way bread was leavened until the 20th century.

In my experience, it is possible to get similar dough expansion with a natural preferment as with commercial yeast, including a doubling and tripling, but the extent of dough expansion when using a natural preferment will depend on the amount of preferment used, its strength, the fermentation temperature (e.g., room temperature vs. refrigeration), the amount of salt, hydration percent, and other factors. It is theoretically possible, I suppose, to correlate amounts of natural preferment and commercial yeast to produce similar results under similar circumstances, but I have not seen any tables setting forth such correlations.

As far as combining a natural preferment with commercial yeast is concerned, my experience is that the crust flavor is less pronounced than if only a natural preferment is used. Many people use commercial yeast in combination with a natural preferment with the view of achieving better oven spring or as insurance in case the natural preferment is too weak (slow acting) or otherwise ineffective. With experience in establishing and maintaining natural preferments, it should be possible to rely only on the natural preferments and not have to use commercial yeast as a crutch.

The amount of leavening-power of a culture is dependent on the yeast strain(s) in the culture. I have no knowledge of your particular starter, but I maintain 6 cultures and each has a different potency. The only one that I captured myself is the least potent and I usually add a bit of commercial yeast to give it an assist. The other 5 are all from sourdo.com and, although they vary in strength, they all have more than enough to be used without any commercial yeast. One of them, the "Russian" starter, once activated, is as potent as IDY.